Extremists drive out responsible political choices

Dan Thomasson

9:43 PM, Feb 15, 2011

WASHINGTON — I don't personally know Dick Wadhams, the Colorado Republican chairman whose decision not to run for reelection was based on having had enough of "the nuts" in his party who "are obsessed with seeing conspiracies around every corner." But as one who has been writing about politics for more than 50 years, the first five of those in Denver, I can certainly empathize with his views.

It has become increasingly difficult to make much sense out of the maelstrom of modern politics where rational thought is not only in short supply, those who offer it are the object of derision. Wadhams had the votes for another term according to press reports, but obviously was tired of those whom he said believed that moderation was a blight on conservatism and that all the GOP had to do was unite behind the Right. That may not be exactly how he put it, but that was the gist of it.

Wadhams took the step after a Tea Party candidate finished a poor last behind a Democrat and an Independent, who had been a centrist Republican, in last fall's gubernatorial race, proving once again what my old friend and political mentor the late Bob Lee taught me about Colorado voters: They don't buy into a lot of off-the-wall stuff.

Bob held the GOP chair in the state during the early '60s and he was key to electing John Love to the governorship, ousting one of the most popular figures in the state's history, Democratic incumbent Steve McNichols in 1962.

While he worked for Barry Goldwater in 1964, he had no illusions about the conservative icon's chances and in 1968, while working for Richard Nixon, he warned me that Nixon's choice of Spiro Agnew might come back to haunt him and that he feared Nixon was loafing through the campaign. He, of course, was right about both. Vice President Hubert Humphrey nearly won despite Vietnam. Bob's work as a consultant in New Jersey turning the state legislature into a Republican bastion was legendary and he did the same thing for the governorship of Florida, electing a Republican candidate who was trailing until Bob came on the scene and told him to go fishing while he pulled the campaign together.

Bob Lee was a conservative. There's no doubt about that. But he was a practical politician with a clear understanding that voters are never too far left or right. They may stray once in a while as they did in the last U.S. House election, but generally they don't get far out of the main stream. That I think is the hurdle members of the tea party faction face in their insistence that any variation from their mantra calls for instant repudiation.

While Bob and John Love weren't always cordial -- in fact they were downright hostile to one another at times -- Bob was quick to realize Love's charismatic appeal to voters. Love was, he told me once somewhat grudgingly, a good candidate.

Knowing that difference is what made Bob and apparently Wadhams the kind of professionals that always have been the backbone of sound politics. These are the guys who realize that demanding unforgiving ideological purity can lead to electoral disaster.

It's my belief that Bob Lee would be enormously proud of Wadhams and just the opposite of those who forced Utah Sen. Bob Bennett out of office in November's midterms and will now try to do the same to his fellow Republican colleague Orrin Hatch who recently was heckled at a Conservative Political Action Conference for his earlier support of the Wall Street bailout.

Hatch has sensible old-line conservative credentials, the kind that allow for room to compromise on key issues. Republican Mike Lee who ousted Bennett won't endorse him however even though Hatch said he probably was wrong to back the Street's fiscal relief.

The shame here is that the Wadhams of both parties are fading away when they are most needed. Listening to the cacophony of hate and stupidity aimed by radio talkers at the lowest common denominator in the electorate while driving recently, I suddenly remembered Bob's last call to me. "It ain't my game anymore," he said.